Best Ice Cream Makers

Everyone loves ice cream, and with your own ice cream maker you can save on the cost of buying it and have fun coming up with unique flavors. At Offers.com, we’ve put together a list of the best ice cream makers on the market, based on price, star ratings, and user reviews. You’ll find everything from old fashioned, manual ice cream buckets, to electric ice cream makers that allow you to add your ingredients and set it and forget it until the ice cream is ready.

Hamilton Beach 68330N 4 Quart Automatic Ice Cream Maker

Yaylabs Play and Freeze Ice Cream Ball Ice Cream Maker

Nostalgia ICMP400BLUE 4 Quart Electric Ice Cream Maker

Our Score: 7.3/10On Amazon(831 Reviews)

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Hamilton Beach Ice Cream Maker

Our Score: 6.8/10On Amazon(310 Reviews)

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About Ice Cream Makers

Break out your creativity in the kitchen by making your own frozen treats with an ice cream maker. These tools are either manual or electric, and allow you to layer milk, ice, and flavoring, surround It with ice and rock salt, and churn the mixture to create creamy, smooth ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, and more.

About Ice Cream Makers

Few treats are better than creamy, homemade ice cream. A popular treat across generations and cultures, ice cream's cold sweetness delights in both warm weather and cold alike. It's possible to make it using a no-churn recipe, but for the most authentic taste and texture, an ice cream maker is a solid investment. These machines consistently create smooth, creamy frozen treats that are every bit as good, if not better, than your favorite store-bought brands.

Classic, old-fashioned ice-and-salt buckets can be either manual or electric. To make the ice cream, you layer milk, ice, and flavoring inside a canister, surround the outside with ice and rock salt, and churn the mixture to freeze interior mixture. These ice cream makers are messy and difficult to use, so they're best for occasional use and are better if you have plenty of outdoor space to use them. Ice-and-salt ice cream makers are the cheapest of the machines.

The most common style of ice cream maker available today is the pre-frozen bowl. To make the ice cream using this maker, you freeze your liquid ingredients for eight to 24 hours prior to putting the bowl into a separate machine, which churns the base. These ice cream makers are also budget-friendly, although they are more expensive than the ice-and-salt style; they are also fairly easy to use, but you will need space in your freezer, and you cannot make more than one batch at a time. The fact that the ingredients have to be frozen for several hours beforehand can also make the process time-consuming.

A compressor style is a self-refrigerating ice cream maker that is by far the easiest to use. If you plan to make lots of ice cream, this is the one to opt for, as you can make multiple batches simply by pressing a few buttons. Experts agree that a compressor ice cream maker will also give you a flavor that's closest to store-bought ice cream. Compressor makers are by far the most expensive ice cream maker on the market, but if you plan to make a lot of ice cream, it's worth the investment.

Kitchen appliance brand Cuisinart offers several ice cream makers at different price points, from an ice-and-salt model that can make up to two quarts at a time, to a compressor style that allows you to just throw the ingredients in and forget it until your ice cream is ready. If you're not sure how much ice cream you'd like to make or are looking for a budget friendly option, check out the simple churn style from Hamilton Beach, which runs around $30 and allows you to add in berries and other ingredients through a spout in the lid.